1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an entertainment button device and a game machine, and more specifically to an entertainment button device having a button-up-and-down mechanism to move an entertainment button up and down, and a game machine including the entertainment button.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a pachinko game machine includes a frame body in which a game board is set, and an opening and closing body. The opening and closing body is supported to be able to open and close by the frame body and includes a transparent plate that covers the board surface of the game board in the closed position. A tray unit having an accumulating tray to accumulate playing balls is provided below the opening and closing body (below the transparent plate). In recent years, mainstream pachinko game machines include an entertainment button device. This entertainment button device has an entertainment button that the player can push, and is set in a tray unit, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3989287, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-56085. The entertainment button device has a spring that biases the entertainment button to the moving-up direction, and is generally configured to push the entertainment button from the upper side of the tray unit.
This entertainment button device has a configuration where the entertainment button is fitted into a bottom hole formed in the upper end of the tray unit to be able to move up and down. In the normal operation position, the entertainment button is held to protrude upward from the tray unit. When the entertainment button is pushed from the normal operation position to the pushed position, and then is released from being pushed, it returns to the normal operation position and held in this position. When the button is pushed during a period of time in which the button can be operated, the push operation is detected, and therefore a specific entertainment in the game is performed. This enhances the player's sense of participation and improves the effect of the entertainment in the game.
By the way, in the entertainment button device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,287, the entertainment button moves between the normal operation position and the pushed position. The position in which the entertainment button is held is alternately switched between the normal operation position and the pushed position. The entertainment button is set in a button case to be able to move up and down, and a spring that biases the entertainment button to the direction in which the entertainment button moves up is also set in the button case. A solenoid actuator (hereinafter referred to as “solenoid”) moves the button case between a position in which the entertainment button is held in the normal operation position and a position in which the entertainment button is held in the pushed position.
Meanwhile, in the entertainment button device disclosed in 2009-56085, the entertainment button moves over the normal operation position, the pushed position and a protruding position in which the entertainment button protrudes much further than in the normal operation position. The position of the entertainment button is alternately switched between the normal operation position and the protruding position. A stopper plate is formed integrally with the entertainment button via a shaft, and a locking member is provided to be able to engage with the stopper plate. The locking member is engaged with the stopper plate by the solenoid to move between a position in which the entertainment button is held in the normal operation position and a position in which the entertainment button is held in the protruding position.
With the entertainment button device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,287, the button case is moved by the solenoid to allow the entertainment button to move between the normal operation position and the pushed position. Meanwhile, with the entertainment button disclosed in 2009-56085, the locking member is moved by the solenoid to allow the entertainment button to move between the normal operation position and the protruding position.
However, with the above-described related art, it is difficult to desirably move up and down the entertainment button, for example, the entertainment button is stopped temporarily at a predetermined position or moves up and down repeatedly, because the entertainment button is controlled through the solenoid to only move up and down between the two positions (between the normal operation position and the pushed position in U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,287; between the normal operation position and the protruding position in 2009-56085), which are the upper and lower limit positions to which the solenoid moves up and down. Also, it is difficult to freely change the speed at which the entertainment button moves up and down. That is, there is a limitation in improving the effect of the entertainment of a game by moving the entertainment button up and down.
Here, with a general entertainment button device, the entertainment button is small and has a short stroke of up-and-down movement. Therefore, even if the entertainment button moves up and down, the movement is less represented, and consequently is not much help to the improvement of the effect of the entertainment in a game. To solve this drawback, an approach is proposed to increase the size of the entertainment button to lengthen the stroke of up-and-down movement. However, a large solenoid is required to lengthen the stroke of the up-and-down movement. With such a large solenoid, the entertainment button is not likely to smoothly move between the above-described two positions. Moreover, there is another problem of the arrangement and the installation of the solenoid. The above-described problem in the control of the entertainment button to move up and down by the solenoid still remains.